


Blank Canvas

by rainismymusic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: For a Friend, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 00:47:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18377504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainismymusic/pseuds/rainismymusic
Summary: There's a bit of a formatting issue near the end that I'll fix as soon as I can (Ao3 formatting is really weird) just if you were wondering!





	Blank Canvas

**Author's Note:**

> There's a bit of a formatting issue near the end that I'll fix as soon as I can (Ao3 formatting is really weird) just if you were wondering!

The campers had been expecting something out of the ordinary for Friday night, but certainly not to this extent. Yet there Shiro stood, announcing a ‘special surprise’ for all of them.  
Curious murmurs mixed with the smoke from the dying fire, sputtering out when Adam cleared his throat. “We’ve been very impressed with your effort this week,” he explained, holding an abnormally large bag in his arms. “Which is why tonight you’ll be free to let your creativity fly away. ” 

The counselors let out a slight chuckle at the emphasized word, raising only eyebrows and interest from the campers. 

“If I hear another shitty joke from either one of them, their tent’s going to be flying away,” Pidge groaned, glasses glinting in the firelight. 

“Reaching into the bag, Shiro pulled out a golden brown parcel, along with a handful of assorted rainbow sharpies. “You’ll be releasing lanterns. You’re allowed to decorate them with whatever you want, with the exception of anything inappropriate. I take it you’ll know whether it’s acceptable.”

An elbow jabbed Lance’s side. “Well, guess you won’t be decorating yours.” He was quick to brush Hunk’s arm away. “Shut up man.”

“Come up here and grab a lantern and the colors you want. We’ll be hiking a bit to reach the location where we’ll set them off.”

After much clamoring and pushing, everyone tucked a lantern and set of markers under their arms, following dim flashlight beams through the forest. As Lance’s friends discussed plans for their lanterns, he couldn’t help but ponder his own. Appealing as it would be to make a dick-adorned lantern float through the sky, Lance felt the art should be something important.

The trail gradually narrowed and grew steeper, forcing Lance to walk behind Hunk and Pidge, coincidentally falling beside the loner that had lingered at the tail of the group. The two nodded at each other, then walked for a bit in content silence. Lance kept his gaze fixed on his feet, the crunch of dirt under heel the only sound between the two. Suddenly, something smacked Lance in the head, nearly knocking him down. His attention snapped up to the goliath of a branch extended above the path.

“Dude, are you blind?” Keith chuckled, shining his flashlight into Lance’s eyes. “Hey,” Lance protested, cradling his forehead in his hand, “you could have at least warned me!” 

“It was right in front of you.” He winced, ducking under the obstacle. 

“But I didn’t see it, Keith. You’ve got the flashlight and you’re only pointing it on your own side of the path!”

“The beam almost covers the entire path,” Keith protested, shining the light on the empty path ahead for emphasis. The groups ahead of them had already moved on, and Lance practically sighed in relief at being spared from the added embarrassment. 

“Dude, just let me hold it.” 

There was no use arguing. Keith sighed, relinquishing his flashlight to Lance, who brandished it like a trophy. He rolled his eyes, taking a step up the path in the dark. “Way to go, Lance. Now stop using the flashlight as a signal lamp so we can catch up with the others.” 

“Well, look who suddenly has night vision. Where do you think you’re going?” A small click, and the light of their flashlight switched off. “Oh, come on,” Keith groaned, swiveling around in the presumed direction of Lance. “Now you’re just-” There was a crash and the snapping of branches as he fell off the trail. 

“Keith?!” Lance nearly dropped the flashlight in his rush to turn it on. “Are you okay?” Then there he was, illuminated in a spotlight, sprawled along the side of the path in a mess of sticks, markers, and leaves. He barely managed to get a good look before doubling over in laughter.

Keith sighed, several leaves sliding down to his lap as he sat up. Most of his markers were littered across the underbrush. He’d fallen on the lantern, but it seemed to be mostly intacts. “At least I didn’t laugh when you were hurt,” he grumbled, collecting his scattered supplies as Lance gathered himself. 

“What are you talking about? You laughed too!”

Keith gingerly stepped back up on the path, frowning at the root that had tripped him. “That’s an unfair comparison,” he objected, snatching his flashlight. “And I’m taking this back!”  
Mumbling under his breath, Keith leaned over, brushing the remaining leaves off his pants. Lance dug his hands in his pockets, snickering at one large leaf in particular that had twisted itself in his hair. Keith looked up, hands still on his knees. “What?”

“You missed one.” Lance reached over the top of his head, pinching the tip of the leaf to pluck it from Keith’s black locks. Keith’s puzzled expression morphed into a smirk. “Well, good thing you told me.” Extending to his full height, he illuminated Lance’s hair. “Because you have one too.” 

For a moment, Keith almost believed he’d managed to stun him into silence. “Dude!” Lance furiously ruffled his hair, threading his fingers through his short, wavy hair. “Is it still there?”  
“Perhaps,” Keith teased, turning heel to continue up the trail. To his credit, Lance followed, though not without whining. 

He almost wanted to tell him there was no leaf in the first place. 

Continuing up the trail, they quickly caught up with Hunk and Pidge, who exchanged a glance at their unkempt, slightly flushed complexion. 

“What were you two doing?”

Just as both were about to explain, Adam called, “We’re here!”

“Finally!” Lance cheered, saved. The hike had been far too long. Especially in the dark. With Keith.

The end of the trail opened into a large clearing, strangely void of the dense greenery they had become accustomed to over the past weeks at camp. Trees formed a semi-circle around the space, tapering off when the rock plummeted below to form a cliff.

“We’ll be releasing our lanterns here,” explained Shiro. “It’s a lot less of a fire hazard.”*

As Shiro launched into his ever-too-familiar safety speech, Lance occupied himself by peering over the rest of the camper’s heads. Distant lights glimmered on the horizon in an array of colors; His best guess? The town across the woods.

“Adam and I will be putting tiki torches around. Divide yourself into groups and decorate your lanterns by the light. When everyone’s ready, we’ll show you how to launch them.” Groups formed quickly. After all, most of them had been walking together. Keith shifted his feet, shooting a glance around.

A pair of girls he'd seen before were already seated, holding their lanterns like blank canvases. Keith watched as the one he recalled as Anna drew a large circle, inciting the other, Abby, to look over in surprise, who cocked an eyebrow.

“A circle?”

“Oh, don’t get confused. You think I’d miss a chance to send Bill Cipher into the stars? No, this is the cipher wheel,” she corrected, quickly drawing a few unknown symbols. She paused for a moment. “Shooting star, pine tree, llama, glasses, hand, fez, heart, ice bag, what am I missing?”

“You think I’d know?”

He didn’t either.

Just as he was considering sitting with Adam and Shiro, a hand tugged on his shirt. “Hey, aren’t you coming?” Lance pointed behind him, where Hunk and Pidge were already gathered around a torch.

He blinked in surprise. “Yeah, thanks.”

“What for?”

Keith stumbled over his words. “Oh- just for letting me sit with you.”

“Are you kidding me? I want you with us.” Lance’s face morphed into a smile. “Of course, mainly to see what you put on your lantern,” he joked, turning heel to sit by Hunk. Keith followed, dumping his supplies on the ground next to Hunk.

“Oh, there you two are. What are you guys thinking of drawing?” Pidge asked, sharpie in hand. “I was thinking of putting something that would piss off Adam or Shiro, both even, but since supposedly,” she cast Hunk an annoyed look, “what you write is supposed to come true, and Hunk is taking this seriously, I’m out of ideas.”

Lances eyes lit up. “Is that true?”

Hunk tucked his knees to his chest. “At least, that’s what everyone says. I tend not to believe that, but I’m sure there’s a better way to decorate her lantern besides drawing something that will make someone mad."

“Really?” She faked a gasp. “Me, doing something to annoy people?”

“You can do better. I’m drawing my favorite foods and family, so that I may enjoy hearty meals with them in the future.” He practically started drooling. “And also eat some more cinnamon rolls.”

Pidge adjusted her glasses. “You are a cinnamon roll. I might as well put Matt on here. That dumbass needs it.” Lance ran a finger over the lantern. Nadia could use it too, he thought.

Their conversation trailed off as each began working on their lantern. Keith stared at his own, unopened in his lap. Tearing off the plastic that had covered it, a blank canvas revealed.  
His fingers snagged on something on the back of the lantern. When he flipped it over, his stomach dropped. Mouth tight, he examined the lanterns around him, confirming that only his had a gash ripped in the delicate material.

Lance happened to look up long enough to catch a glimpse of Keith’s face, connecting the dots he noticed the torn lantern in his hand. “Whoa!” The shout drew the attention of Pidge and Hunk, as well as several others around them. “How did that happen?”

When could it have happened? He was sure he’d had it tucked under his arm the entire time they were hiking. “I don’t know,” he started. Even when he’d fallen- oh shit. “I’m sure it was when I fell. Nothing else could’ve scratched through the packaging like that.”

“Go ask Shiro if he has any extras,” Pidge suggested. 

Spoiler alert: he didn’t.

“You didn’t pack extras?!” Lance demanded. This earned him a quick glance from Keith. Despite insisting he didn’t need to launch a lantern, Lance had insisted, declaring, “If you won’t go, I will,” and snatching the lantern out of Keith’s lap. 

Whether from pity or guilt, Lance was determined to fix his lantern.

“We left them at the camp.” Adam chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “Though looking at it in hindsight that was a bit stupid, huh?” He rustled in his bag and was rewarded with a small roll of tape. “This is the best I can do,” he apologized, handing it to Keith. 

Two boys, one roll of tape, and a torn lantern. Keith wasn’t so sure all this effort was worth it. 

“I’ll see what I can do with this,” he assured Lance once they got back to their torch. “You finish decorating yours.” Lance shot a quick glance at his own lantern discarded on the grass as if he were tempted by his offer. Lance nodded his head in satisfaction. “Nope, mine’s done.”

Either he was lying, or the few words scribbled on the outside of the lantern were all that constituted as his decorations. Still, it wasn’t worth the time nor energy to try to stop Lance from something he was fixated on. Even if it happened to be fruitless.

Sitting in the grass, lantern in his lap, Lance began. Watching him work, it was truly hilarious the amount of concentration he was exerting to tape the lantern back together. “Voila!” he exclaimed, presenting the mended lantern to Keith in a graceful extension of his arm. He accepted it tenderly, raising his eyebrows at the mess of tape holding the side of the lantern together. 

Guess it was better than nothing.

“Well?” Lance asked, pulling his knees to his chest. “Aren’t you going to decorate it?” Keith snickered, tapping him on the head with the poorly taped lantern. “I would worry more about it actually flying than what’s on it.”

Lance swatted it away from his head. “Oh come on! You should at least write one thing on there. Especially after all my hard work.”

“That took you less than five minutes.” Keith plopped down on the grass. “Though I guess it’s the thought that counts,” he admitted. Lance had taken time away from his own decorations to help him. Even if he was the one who tore it in the first place. 

“If I write one thing, will you leave me alone?” A sharpie was tossed in his direction. Keith caught it with one hand, Lance giving him a wink. “We’ll settle for that.” By the time Shiro called for everyone’s attention to demonstrate how to light their lanterns, Keith was holding his finished lantern in his hands. 

“Get a partner to hold the lantern from the top while the other lights the wick in the middle with the torch. It may take a while to light, but once it does, bring it over to the edge of the cliff and hold it to the ground. Once everyone’s is ready, we’ll release them all at once.”

At this point, there was no doubt who his partner would be. Keith nudged Lance with his shoulder. “You light yours first.” They ended up letting Pidge and Hunk use the torch first. They finished quickly, then moved on to Lance’s. Once ignited, Hunk offered to bring his to the growing group of campers holding their lanterns to the ground while they lit the last one: Keith’s.

As it turned out, lighting it wasn’t a problem. If anything, he was worried about the tape melting.* Keith kept a careful eye on it as he joined Hunk and Pidge at the back of the clusters of pinned lanterns. They were, surprisingly, not the last ones to finish. Ezor and Zethrid were having trouble lighting theirs, the latter getting increasingly frustrated. But as they crouched on the ground waiting for the counselors to help them, Keith managed to get a good look at Lance’s lantern. 

Inscribed on the side of his lantern was a mere statement, enhanced by an array of lines and shapes. It was the only thing on the lantern. 

Para mi familia

Familia jumped out of him. Even with his meager year of school-taught Spanish, he got the gist. Keith snuck a glance in his direction and was lucky enough to catch him at a moment where he wasn’t paying attention.

What was going on at home?

“Who-” he started, cut off from a large exclamation from Shiro. “Alright, everyone’s ready!” Keith swallowed the words.

Later, he promised himself.

“Gently raise your arms above your heads and let them go. We’ll release them on the count of three! One, two- three!”

As a whole, the group raised the lanterns and let go. As each camper’s grip on the edge of the lanterns released, the hot air that had built up lifted the lanterns out of their hands and sent them soaring into the sky. There were several gasps as the lanterns lifted, gently bumping into each other before dispersing in the open air. The wind caught the fabric and pushed it far beyond their reach, across the ridge and then high into the air above the valley.

Keith’s lantern hovered above his fingers, about to slip back once more into his grasp- until the wind caught it. Instead of lifting up, it was pushed across the ground, rolling straight towards the edge of the cliff, below its fellow lanterns.

Instead of lifting off, it was about to tumble down.

He nearly let it, but sprinted after the runaway lantern when he thought of Lance’s hard work on the poor thing. Probrectio, he’d called it. He bumped several shoulders in his struggle, grabbing the wire edge only a few feet away from the large drop.

There was no way it would get off the ground.

He almost missed the lanterns above him. The wind had carried them well, and most were grouped together, with a few stragglers falling or sinking down. Even from their distance, the designs drawn on the outside were still visible, illuminated by their bright center.

It was a sight to behold.

“Enjoying the view?” Lance had sneaked up behind him, eyebrow lifting at the lantern clutched in his hand. “Still not up?” Keith chuckled, lifting it up. “Thinking about throwing over the cliff. It’ll catch more air that way.”

“Well, let me try it before we resort to that. Maybe it just needs some extra help.”

“Be my guest.” Lance took it in his hands, twirling it around for a few seconds in what he guess constituted as an examination for a few seconds, then squatted, placing the lantern on the ground. Keith bent over, hands locking on his knees. 

“Isn’t that the same thing we did before?”

“It might need to build up more hot air. We just need to wait.”

And so they did. It gave them a good view of the lanterns flying away above them and watched so long that most began to drop. Behind them, the rest of the campers were packing up, either grumbling about the trip back or still in awe of the disappearing lanterns.

Keith snuck a glance at Lance, who was still intently pinning the lantern to the ground. At this rate, he expected for the flame to die out. “It’s now or-”  
Lance threw his arms up in the air, nearly whacking Keith in the face. “Hey,” he yelped, jumping back. “What was that for?”

“Just look!”

There, actually flying up in the sky, was his lantern. They both cheered, a bit much for the success of a deformed lantern, but celebrated nonetheless. It had actually worked.  
“We did it!” Lance exclaimed, wearing a bright smile. Keith could only grin with him. To be this happy over the success of a simple lantern, he thought, nearly shaking his head, is a skill only Lance could have. 

Shiro walked up behind them, putting a hand on both of their shoulders, “Well I wish you could watch it for a bit longer but we need to head back down.” He laughed, watching the lone lantern float up in the sky. “You actually made that damn thing fly.”

Lance smiled smugly, pointing his fingers and bringing it underneath his chin. “Just needed a bit of the old razzle dazzle to help it along.” 

“Yeah, whatever,” Keith shoved Lance in the direction of the path, earning a yelp. “Say what you want, but you were the one who caused this mess. Which is why this time, I’m holding the flashlight.”

Lance cast one last look at the lantern before jogging to catch up with Keith, who had walked ahead. He jostled his shoulder as they walked side by side. 

“Just make sure you don’t trip this time.”

**Author's Note:**

> * While I was writing this I looked up, “can scotch tape melt?”. Spoiler alert: it can’t, but one of the results was so stupid I had to share it. Listed was “If I melt scotch tape, will it make scotch?”


End file.
